Valley View Community Church congregation walks for Pete's Sake

By M.ENGLISH, For The Times Herald

Monday, April 22, 2013

Last week’s horrific bomb attack at the Boston Marathon won’t keep members of Audubon’s Valley View Community Church from participating in April 28’s For Pete’s Sake, Walk! at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

“If we let that happen, we let the bad guys win,” says founding Pastor Bruce Carter. “I’m trusting we won’t let that happen…because this is such a good cause.”

Organizers describe next weekend’s event at the Philadelphia Phillies home stadium as a three-mile “fun walk…family-friendly, health conscious and unique.”

“Walkers round the concourse as they celebrate the beauty of relationships in their lives and the strength of those who battle cancer,” they add.

Valley View members will forego their usual Sunday morning worship services to take part in the walk.

“We actually have a number of people in our church community who are battling cancer and some who have passed away from cancer,” Carter says. “We certainly have a tradition here of visiting people who are in the hospital, taking them meals, driving them to doctors’ appointments…but we just wanted to take what we’ve been doing to a different level to show our solidarity with one of our members — Joanna Little — who’s been battling cancer for the past five-and-a-half years.

“Joanna just turned 40, and she has four children she’s doing her best to care for along with everything else she’s dealing with. About a year or so into her struggle, Joanna became aware of For Pete’s Sake, which, basically, provides respite vacations for people with cancer. Thanks to them, Joanna, her husband Garth and their four kids got to go to Disney World for a week, and they had a wonderful time.

“Our leadership team agreed to take a Sunday off from worship to walk en masse to show our support, and there’s been no pushback at all as a result of that decision.”

According to For Pete’s Sake, Walk! spokesmen, 2,000-plus men, women and children registered for 2012’s second annual FPSW, and they anticipate more than 2,500 participants this year. Check-in is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and continue through 10:30 a.m. As planned, the morning will feature face painting, a temporary tattoo station, plenty of entertainment and free food and drinks. Participants will also receive commemorative t-shirts.

Registration is $30 for walkers 12-and-older; $10 for 5 through 11-year-olds; and free for 4-year-olds and under. Things will wrap up with a trip around the bases and a photo in the Phillies dugout.

Valley View’s Carter has been invited to offer the event’s opening prayer and welcomes any area residents who would like to accompany the church’s members to April 28’s For Pete’s Sake, Walk! to contact him for additional specifics.

“We’ve rented buses to take us down to Citizens Bank Park, so transportation will be provided, and we absolutely encourage anyone who’d like to be part of this to join us,” Carter says. “We’re even offering scholarships, so if people can’t afford the registration fee, that’s no problem. We’ll cover it for them.”

All pledge money raised by the Valley View group will be donated as a contribution from “Joanna’s Cancer Crusaders.”

“We’re doing this as a team, and anybody who can’t make the walk but would like to make a donation is certainly welcome to do so,” Carter says. “So many of us have been touched by cancer. It’s everywhere. We’re all sick and tired of cancer, and our Valley View community decided we wanted to do more than just talk about it.”

Further information is available at 610-631-2707 or via e-mail at info@valleyviewseek.org. Valley View Community Church is located at 778 Sunnyside Ave. (between Ridge Pike and Eagleville Road), Audubon.

Formerly known as Crossing the Finish Line, the non-profit organization “assists adult cancer patients, their caregivers and loved ones (by giving) these patients a break from cancer in a secure and comfortable environment.”

“Eligible patients, along with their caregivers, receive a one-week expense-paid excursion to select vacation locations along the East Coast and in the Caribbean,” continues FPS’s online mission statement. “For Pete’s Sake owns two respite homes near Orlando, Fla., and relies on donated vacation homes to supplement additional stays.”

Additional facts about For Pete’s Sake, Walk! and its respite program for cancer victims and their families are posted at www.takeabreakfromcancer.org.